


Falling for You

by Sinistretoile



Category: Marvel, Marvel (Comics), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, Winter Soldier (Comics)
Genre: Angst, Angst and Feels, Angst with a Happy Ending, Heavy Angst, Implied/Referenced Torture, References to Depression, Suicidal Thoughts, angst angst and more angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-05
Updated: 2017-05-05
Packaged: 2018-10-28 07:10:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,287
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10826334
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sinistretoile/pseuds/Sinistretoile
Summary: Can Bucky convince the team's empath to talk to him before things go too far?





	Falling for You

**Author's Note:**

> This is so angsty. I'm so sorry. It stuck in my head and I kicked around in there for awhile before I finally wrote it.

The team had seen the signs before. She drew away and into herself. When missions were complete, she finished debriefing then disappeared. Most of the time, she spent in her room. The rest she simply managed to be alone. They were sure this time would pass. That was before. Before she'd been captured by Hydra. Before they'd experimented on her and tortured and her. Before they'd tried to convert her. Steve, Sam and Natasha had finally found her and freed her. But not before the damage was done.  
Bucky reached out to her. He offered her an ear to listen and a shoulder to cry on if need be. He'd been there. He wanted her to know that he would listen, even if he couldn't help. She would only ever smile softly and give him the barest of nods with a whispered 'Thank you, James'.  
That was another thing. She was the only one that called him James. Normally, he hated it. It reminded him too much of what he'd lost, what he'd become, the things he'd done. But from her, it was a reminder that he was a man, not just a name, 'Bucky', or a memory...or a nightmare.  
But neither the team nor Bucky could know how deep her depression and suicidal thoughts ran. She already felt immense guilt for the lives she couldn't save. But Hydra had ramped up her power and stripped away her control, her shielding. She felt everyone's guilt, everyone's shame as if it was her own. She could no longer separate theirs from hers, they'd fucked with her empathy so much. Add in the telepathy they'd awakened and it was torment just eat a fucking meal with the entire team.  
Everything had become so overwhelming and she was ready to just give up. She began to lose the line where everyone else ended and she began. Especially with Bucky. Before she'd been taken, they'd had a easy, quiet friendship. They would sit in the same room for hours and not talk, just reading and surfing the internet. She thought before she was taken, they'd been at a crucial moment. They'd gone from the occasional, socially appropriate hug to longer hugs and light pecking kisses, random touches and sitting so their bodies touched. He liked the way she accepted his silence and hadn't been afraid of him no matter what she'd heard of him. She liked the way he accepted her introversion and never pushed to her go out and do things.  
But now...now was different. Out of the team, he was the easiest and loudest to hear and read, despite his silence. She remembered things about Steve that she couldn't possibly, things about Bucky, things about before. Did he even know these memories were in his head? This didn't help her growing affection for him.  
"Doll?" She stared out the window into the raining night.  
"Hey, James..." She lowered her knees from her chest, dangling them off the support beam. Bucky dropped down next to her. His hand covered hers, which amplified the connection. She gasped but didn't pull her hand away. She knew Bucky loved her. She'd seen herself through his eyes plenty of times. She also knew why he wouldn't tell her. And she knew she'd never say anything.  
"You ok? You've been up here for almost a week. I think Barton's jealous."  
"Guess I should find somewhere else to hole-up."  
"Or you could talk to me about it." He closed his flesh fingers around her hand and lifted it. She let him cradle it, caressing his fingers up and down the inside of her palm and fingers, down to her wrist. "I'm not good at 'peopling'...but I like attempting to 'people' with you." He drew in a breath. "I like you."  
She stiffened. She hadn't seen that coming. And of course, he took her reaction the wrong way.  
"I mean- You're my best friend after Steve. And-and I'm worried about you." I love you, he finished in his head.  
"I'm worried about me too..." She linked their fingers. She'd been so distracted she didn't hear the jumble of thoughts until just before the missile the hit. "James!" The room below them exploded into a cloud of glass and debris. The second and third missiles hit, carving away half of the Avenger's Tower penthouse and five floors below. The support beam groaned under the weight of Bucky and his metal arm and her dangling from their linked hands.  
She looked down, her vision blurring at the street far below. It would be so easy to just let go. She'd be just another causality in the attack. And then it would be quiet.  
"Doll! Look at me, doll!" She continued to stare, her head giving a painful throb as the agony of the people injured in the attack swamped her. Bucky felt her pulse become tachycardic and her respiration increase. He smelt the salt of the sweat that broke out on her skin. "Doll, baby, look at me. I need your other hand. I can't hang on much longer."  
"Just let go, James." She looked up at him. "Just let me go."  
Bucky's heart broke at the sorrow in her eyes, the haunted agony that he knew so well. He hated himself for being so selfish, but he refused to lose something else. "No." He narrowed his eyes. "Give me your other hand." He clenched his jaw, breathing through his nose.  
"I can't do it anymore." The sob choked her chest. "Just let me go."  
"No, doll. I can't. I won't." He shifted his weight to reach for her with his metal hand. "Give me your hand. I'm not letting go." He swallowed, remaining immovable in the face of her tears. "I need you."  
"Why?" The support beamed groaned and jerked as it dropped lower, jostling them. She screamed, despite her desire to fall.  
"Give me your hand!"  
"Why!"  
"Because I love you! And I'm not gonna let you die." He pleaded at her with his eyes. "Now give me your fucking hand!" She looked down at the street below. She could wait him out until the support beam broke and dropped them both. But then he would die with her too. And that was unacceptable. "Doll, your hand!"  
"I'm a mess. A fucking section-8."  
Bucky barked out a laugh, despite their precarious position. "You have met me, right?" She smiled sadly but the smile didn't reach her eyes. "I don't care. We'll get through this together. Just give me your hand."  
The support beam groaned and dropped them even further. Bucky began to slid toward the end. On reflex, she reached for his metal hand. He grasped her tightly, careful not to crush her fingers then hauled her onto the beam. They had a moment to stare into each other's eyes before the beam gave way.  
Bucky held onto her tightly as they slid off the beam and dropped into the air. A pair of flying blurs swooshed in as they fell, Vision and Iron Man. They were dropped to safety, struggling to catch their breaths. Bucky was the first to recover and crawled over to her.  
"Doll?" She was silent and staring, trying desperately to shut out of the overwhelming mental assault. "Say something."  
Her eyes finally focused and met his. "You love me."  
"I do."  
"I love you too."  
"Thank god or this would be really awkward." She wasn't able to ask what before his lips pressed to hers, coaxing them open for his tongue. He cradled her jaw, resting his thumb just under her bottom lip. Her fingers buried themselves in his hair. That's how the rest of the team found them.


End file.
